Gun owners more likely to kill than use arms in self defense – study

A gun control advocacy organization called Violence Policy Center has released a study that finds people are more likely to use a gun to kill someone without cause than for self-defense or protection of the innocent.

The study, which was released Wednesday, shows that
gun owners committed only 259 “justifiable homicides” involving a
gun, compared to 8,342 criminal gun homicides in 2012. This
brings the ratio to about 32 criminal gun homicides for every one
justifiable gun homicide.

Justifiable
homicide is defined by the FBI as the“killing of a felon, during the
commission of a felony, by a private citizen.”

Victims, when confronted
with violent crime, only fired a shot or threatened to use a
firearm 0.8 percent of the time, the study claimed.

The study found that
50.6 percent of those committing justifiable homicides were
white, while 46.1 percent were black, while the victims of such
homicides were 37.8 percent white and 58.7 percent black.

The question that
remains, however, is whether the risk that a potential crime
victim may be in possession of a firearm or use one in
self-defense is a significant deterrent to violent
criminals.

Professors James D.
Wright and Peter Rossi of theUniversity of
Massachusettsfound, in asurveyof felons published in 1994, that 81
percent of criminals believe that a “smart” criminal will know if
a potential victim is armed. Additionally, 74 percent indicated
that burglars avoid occupied dwellings out of fear of being shot,
and 57 percent fear armed citizens more than they feared
police.